Rod Donald farewelled
Representatives of the Association of University Staff (AUS) have today joined other mourners in Christchurch to
farewell a friend in Green Party Co-Leader Rod Donald, who died at the weekend.
AUS General Secretary Helen Kelly, who is overseas and unable to attend today’s funeral, said that Mr Donald was a
principled leader of a political party which has always supported trade unions and working people. She said that Mr
Donald had long promoted policies which were consistent with those of the AUS, and had been a strong advocate for a
well-resourced and high-quality university system.
“Mr Donald has had a long personal association with the AUS, and a number of staff and members, in some cases well
preceding his Parliamentary career, and his contribution and support have been greatly appreciated,” said Ms Kelly.
“Union members were both shocked and saddened to hear of Mr Donald’s death.”
New Zealand Council of Trade Unions’ President, Ross Wilson, described Mr Donald as a passionate and tireless advocate
for sustainable development and social justice. “Rod was a key influence in bringing the Green Party and the union
movement closer together, and we have worked very closely on many issues over the past four years,” Mr Wilson said.
Ms Kelly said that Mr Donald had displayed remarkable political maturity, most recently being instrumental in allowing
the formation of the new Government.
She passed on the Association’s condolences to Mr Donald’s family and to the Green Party.
Also in Tertiary Update this week
1. Cullen sends clear message about future shape of sector
2. Student-loan legislation tabled in Parliament
3. Friends of Private Education Exports lobby
4. Otago fees increase by up to 5 percent
5. Polytechnics receive QRP funding
6. Tertiary-sector advertising up
7. University staff oppose Australian reforms
8. US to cut higher-education funding
9. UK universities fear research and lectures may be illegal
Cullen sends clear message about future shape of sector
In his first public engagement since appointment as Minister for Tertiary Education, Dr Michael Cullen has delivered a
clear message to the sector, saying that the high-growth strategies of the past decade and the kind of branding
exercises seen in some institutions won’t cut much ice with the Government. Nor will spending money promising a cracking
good social life to students.
Dr Cullen said that, alongside a lot of very good tertiary education outcomes, the 1990s spawned some decidedly average
ones, and some that involved “quite frankly” the pursuit of “cash cow” opportunities and an atmosphere that encouraged
high-growth strategies for their own sake.
In a speech to the Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics of New Zealand Conference, Dr Cullen said that the
intention of the Government is not only to provide a better sense of direction for the sector, but also to be pragmatic
about what can be achieved and in what timeframe, and to leave ample room for innovation and leadership to flourish.
“Our conviction as a government,” said Dr Cullen, “is that we can and must create a tertiary sector that, without
exception, provides education that is high quality in terms of international benchmarks and the expectations of learners
and employers, and highly relevant to the skills needed to face the economic and social challenges that New Zealand
faces.”
Included among the initiatives introduced by the Government to provide the sector with more direction are the reviews
and assessments of strategic relevance; the review of the rapid growth in expenditure on certificate, diploma and adult
community education courses; the Quality Reinvestment Programme, with grants worth $177 million over five years to
develop and sustaining high-quality and relevant provision in institutes of technology, polytechnics and wânanga; and a
review of the central education-sector agencies.
“Make no mistake: this is about major change. Many institutions will look very different in five years’ time,” said Dr
Cullen.
Student-loan legislation tabled in Parliament
The Minister of Tertiary Education, Dr Michael Cullen, tabled legislation in Parliament on Tuesday which will make
student loans interest-free, from the start of the new financial year, for students and former students residing in New
Zealand. The Bill will be fast-tracked through all stage of the House to ensure that the changes can take effect from 1
April 2006.
Dr Cullen said that the interest-free student-loan policy, which was a key part of Labour’s election manifesto, would
apply to existing and new loans, and had been designed both to cut the cost to students of tertiary study and to
encourage skilled New Zealanders to invest their skills in the New Zealand economy.
“As a further inducement to encourage people back [to New Zealand], non-resident borrowers who are in default for
non-repayment of their loans will have their penalties cancelled under a special amnesty if, between 1 April next year
and 31 March 2007, if they agree to keep their current liability up to date for two years,” Dr Cullen said.
Estimates are that the interest-free regime will reduce the value of the student loans portfolio held by the Crown by
around $1.5 billion. There will be a further impact of around $500 million due to a shift in accounting treatment from
book to fair value. Both changes are one-off.
In response to Dr Cullen’s announcement, National Party Education spokesman, Bill English, says Labour's student-loan
scheme will result in increased student debt and lower quality education. Mr English says the policy encourages more
students to borrow more money and pay it back more slowly.
“Currently just 55 percent of students eligible for a loan take one out. But now the more than 100,000 students who are
eligible for a loan but haven’t yet taken one out have a strong incentive to take out a full student loan and put it in
the bank to earn a nice little nest egg on the taxpayer,” he said. “Even if only half of those students take up the
opportunity, the total student debt burden will grow by an additional $2 billion over the next three years.”
Friends of Private Education Exports lobby
In a move that appears at odds with other government policy, trade officials have informed the AUS that New Zealand is
starting a “Friends of Private Education Exports” group of WTO members to push for more private-sector involvement in
education in the current General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) negotiations at the World Trade Organisation.
This group would seek commitments on private education from WTO members that constitute priority education markets. In
line with the activity of other WTO groupings pushing for commercial access in other service sectors, it is expected
that the group would seek to set targets for commitments in the private education sector, supplemented by a model
schedule for an offer in this sector. Officials say that any model schedule would “suggest options to accommodate
members’ differing domestic environments and levels of ambition”.
They say that the group will not be used to advocate commitments on public education.
AUS National President, Professor Nigel Haworth said that there is an inherent contradiction in the Government
supporting an international lobby for private education at a time when it has openly acknowledged that domestic private
tertiary education constitutes a problem because of quality issues and its duplication of public-sector courses.
Professor Haworth said that a significant risk in establishing such a group is that it will bring increased pressure for
the opening and the commercialising education in New Zealand, with the greater likelihood of disputes being brought
where New Zealand is stepping outside GATS constraints on regulation, such as attempting to limit the number of
universities.
According to Professor Haworth, these problems are compounded by such issues as officials having no set definition of
private education, other than a general view that it is where individuals, rather than public authorities, are paying
tuition fees.
The AUS is writing to the Prime Minister asking the Government to abandon its support for the Friends of Private
Education Exports initiative. It is also raising concerns about apparent New Zealand support for intensification of
commitments in the GATS negotiations which would threaten New Zealand’s public services.
Otago fees increase by up to 5 percent
The University of Otago will raise most student tuition fees for 2006 by 5 percent, the maximum permitted under the
Government’s fee-maxima regulations, but says its overall income will probably fall next year.
Chancellor Lindsay Brown said that, despite the increases, the University would still have some of the lowest domestic
student tuition fees in the country, especially for Arts and Business courses. He noted that tuition fees for some
undergraduate papers, such as Physiotherapy, would actually drop in 2006. Domestic fees for Dentistry would remain
unchanged, while those for Medicine would decrease should the University be unable to obtain an exemption to allow for
the current 2005 fee to remain unchanged next year.
“Overall, I think this is good news for Otago students as we remain one of the most affordable universities in the
nation at a time when costs are escalating beyond the rate of inflation and beyond what the Government currently budgets
for the tertiary sector,” Mr Brown said.
Mr Brown said it was no surprise that universities across the country are increasing their fees and, in some cases,
seeking approval for larger hikes. “This year’s Government budget set a 2.6 percent increase for the 2006 tuition
subsidy. However, inflation was now expected to be 3.4 percent,” he explained.
The AUS Otago Branch President, Shane Montague-Gallagher, said it appears that the University is in a no-win situation
with fee increases. “With rising costs exceeding the increase in government funding, it seems the University Council had
little choice in this instance,” he said. “We hope the Universities Tripartite Forum, established as a result of the
recent industrial unrest on most university campuses, and which involves unions, vice-chancellors and government
representatives, will come up with some real solutions that will serve the sector long-term.”
Polytechnics receive QRP funding
Polytechnics and wânanga have received more than $4 million from the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) in funding
designed to help them plan for changes in the tertiary-education sector. Nineteen out of twenty-three eligible
polytechnics and wânanga have each received $250,000 under the Government’s new Quality Reinvestment Programme.
The QRP is a five-year project at the forefront of changes being put in place by the TEC under the umbrella of the
Certificate and Diploma Programme to support providers to align their certificate and diploma courses with the 2005-07
Statement of Tertiary Education Priorities (STEP), and to build up a network of high-quality, relevant provision that
meets the needs of learners, employers, their communities and New Zealand as a whole.
To qualify, institutions have signed a resolution agreeing to support the Programme’s aims of developing a network of
high-quality, relevant and value-for-money certificate and diploma provision in the next five years.
A number of polytechnics are working towards applying for the Programme’s second stage $750,000 payment. To receive this
they must show the TEC that factors beyond their control, such as competition and the geographic size and population of
their catchment area, are making it difficult for them to maintain high-quality, relevant provision.
TEC Liaison and Development Group Manager Max Kerr said the Government has allocated $200m over five years for this
programme. “That’s a long-term investment,” he said. “It’s clear the government is looking for substantial change.”
Tertiary-sector advertising up
New figures provided to the New Zealand University Students’ Association (NZUSA) by AC Neilson show that tertiary
institutions have increased spending on advertising and mass marketing by 103 percent since 1999, and now spend over
$122 million competing with each other.
NZUSA Co-President, Camilla Belich, said the figures show that the Government’s call for less competition and more
collaboration within the tertiary sector has clearly been laughed at by vice-chancellors and chief executives’ who have
responded by spending more than doubling spending on marketing since 1999. “There is no academic proof that
mass-marketing campaigns even work and, according to the 2004 TNS Income and Expenditure Survey, only 6 percent of
students used marketing as their primary reason for choosing which tertiary institution to study at,” said Ms Belich.
Ms Belich said that students would be pleased at the concern shown by the new Minister of Education at the huge
expenditure on advertising by tertiary institutions. “He now must act to prevent even more public and student money
being wasted on fruitless marketing campaigns,” said Ms Belich.
Worldwatch
University staff oppose Australian reforms
Australian academics have predicted individual employment contracts will “destroy the collegiality” of the country’s
universities and prompt an exodus of staff as conditions of employment are undermined. University professors from across
Australia have signed a statement, released on Tuesday this week, opposing the Federal Government’s workplace relations
changes for higher education as a threat to university independence that will undermine academic freedom and do nothing
to help improve the quality of teaching and research.
Legislation scheduled to be debated in the Australian Senate this week will see universities denied nearly $300 million
of funding in 2006 and 2007 unless they adopt the hardline workplace-relations conditions, known as the Higher Education
Workplace Relations Requirements.
Part of the Government’s broader Workchoices package, these conditions include requiring Australian Workplace
(individual) Agreements to be offered to all university staff, the removal of limits on fixed-term and casual
employment, and the elimination of any direct union role in collective bargaining, disputes and grievances.
Dr Carolyn Allport, President of the National Tertiary Education Union, said this week that the quality and integrity of
teaching and research depends not only on the ability of universities to appoint staff and set conditions without
external interference, but on staff having the right to speak out and offer comment ‘without fear or favour’. “Forcing
universities to employ staff on secret individual contracts undermines this right, which is essential if universities
are to meet the needs of our community for expert advice and independent research,” she said. “Although the Federal
Government currently provides only 40 per cent of university funding, it wants a hundred per cent control of university
staffing, management and employment practices.”
University staff will join a coalition of union and community groups to rally across Australia on Tuesday next week,
with marches being held in all capitals and large cities. Marches in support of the Australians will also be held in New
Zealand.
US to cut higher-education funding
The United States House of Representatives is scheduled to vote tomorrow on a budget-reconciliation resolution that
contains potentially devastating cuts for higher-education programmes, according to higher education unions. The Senate
has already cut student-aid programs to provide for hurricane relief efforts, but it is considering even deeper cuts to
an already inadequate student aid programme. The proposed Bill reduces student loan programmes by $US14.5 billion to pay
for deficit reduction, disaster relief and tax cuts.
A background paper from the American Association of University Professors says the Bill includes several concerning
provisions, including more expensive student loans, intrusions on academic freedom and institutional autonomy and fewer
checks on fraud and abuse in the for-profit sector.
UK universities fear research and lectures may be illegal
Academics and university librarians could fall foul of the UK Government’s new terror legislation unless they curb
debate in tutorials and restrict the range of research materials available to students, vice-chancellors have warned.
Universities UK (UUK) and the Association of University Teachers (AUT) said the day-to-day work of thousands of academic
staff may be criminalised if the new laws, being debated in the Commons this week, are passed.
Professor Drummond Bone, UUK President, said that the Bill was drafted in such a way that it might well get in the way
of normal academic work. “It might provoke the kind of suspicion and intolerance we are trying to deal with,” he said.
Vivienne Stern, Public Affairs adviser to UUK, said that the Bill is unacceptably wide and will, in the view of UUK,
expose academic staff and librarians and, by virtue of that, the university management to the risk of committing
criminal offences during their standard work.
Last night (New Zealand time), the most controversial part of the Bill, giving police 90-day detention powers over
suspected terrorists, was defeated after many of Tony Blair’s Labour Party colleagues voted against their Prime
Minister.
From Education Guardian